FSIN, Province Far Apart On Resource Revenues

FSIN, Province Far Apart On Resource Revenues

Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 15:09

 

 

The chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations says he and the provincial government are miles apart when it comes to treaties.

 

Lawrence Joseph met yesterday with Premier Brad Wall and his cabinet to talk about issues such as the duty to consult and resource revenue sharing.

 

Joseph says the provincial government is making some headway in its bid to draft a duty-to-consult policy that works for everyone.

 

However, he says the same can’t be said for resource revenue sharing.

 

So far, he says Wall has shown little willingness to entertain thoughts of cutting up the money derived from activities like mining and giving some to First Nations directly.

 

The premier has publicly stated Saskatchewan resources belong to everyone, and he’s not open to slicing away some of the profit for First Nations directly.

 

Joseph says the government needs to look at the spirit and intent of treaties when debating that question.

 

The chief says he also pressed the government to call a review into the number of police shootings involving Aboriginal people in Saskatchewan.

 

But he says that, too, hasn’t drawn any firm commitments.